For the championship story of the 1988 season, we turned to one of the first players to translate his EBC experience into global recognition. Due to his superior talent and performances, Malloy “Future” Nesmith is one of the most celebrated players in streetball history and is known as one of the first players to earn his name at a young age. The Future Pros were a collection of the city’s finest young high school and college players. Assembled by Coach Lenard (RIP), the team was composed of Malik Sealy (RIP), Chris Brooks, John Morton, Gordy Winchester, Ernie Myers and Future.
Heading into the EBC tournament facing teams with veteran college and NBA players, the Future Pros were the youngest team ever to compete in the EBC and were ready for the spotlight which shone upon them that summer. The young version of “Silk” exhibited the same smooth style that the whole world saw on display as he went on to star at St. John’s and then the NBA, Chris Brooks was an athletic big who later starred at West Virginia University and ran the floor with the point guards ready to catch their lobs and finish with huge dunks at the basket, John Morton was the one half of the standout backcourt who later played for Seton Hall and was described by “Future” as the best guard he ever played with and a player who seemingly made no mistakes, Gordon Winchester was a lockdown defender who provided all of the little things which contribute to a winning season and Ernie Myers was the freshman guard for the NCAA Championship North Carolina State who played for Jim Valvano (RIP).
The Future Pros surprised everyone by advancing to the finals to play against Jay’s All-Stars. Nobody expected such a young team to make it through the tournament but the Future Pros themselves. The young team was never scared of the competition and treated each game as an opportunity to prove themselves and earn the respect of their competitors and the crowd. By the time the finals rolled around people knew the Future Pros were serious contenders but most people were probably betting on the Jay’s All-Stars team led by veterans Pookie “MVP” Wilson, Steve Burtt, Troy “TNT” Truesdale and Darryl Mack to take home the EBC trophy.
With the Future Pros wanting to test themselves against the best, the stage was set for a great contest and the park was ready for the championship game. Unfortunately for Jay’s All-Stars, the combination of John Morton, “Future” and Gordon Winchester on defense against Pookie and Steve Burtt proved to be much for the Jay’s team to win in holding those legends to around ten points each. On the flip side, the Future Pros were paced by John Morton’s 33 point and Future’s 25 point games. Looking back on the game, Future remembers street legend “Alpo” Martinez (who was a fan of Jay’s All-Stars) bringing huge pitbulls and standing with them behind the basket that the Future Pros were shooting at in an attempt to intimidate the Future Pros. Had they been allowed to stay there the outcome of the game might very well have been different, but they were removed from the park after a delay and the game continued. With the Future Pros winning by a handful of points, Coach Jay was never able to celebrate his team’s expected win. Jay had ordered 500 t-shirts that said “Jay’s All-Stars 1988 EBC Champs” but the Future Pros had different plans and were the ones celebrating when the buzzer sounded…
